This invention relates to a system and method for creation and automatic deployment of personalized, dynamic and interactive voice services relating to property opportunities, including information derived from on-line analytical processing (OLAP) systems. More specifically, the invention relates to a system and method that enable personalized delivery of property-related information in real-time, via natural language voice communication with a voice-enabled terminal device.
Various systems exist for enabling a user to initiate a request information about what property opportunities currently exist. These systems, whether printed or electronic, typically list available property opportunities and phone numbers where additional information can be obtained. This poses a problem for many people because a person interested in a particular type of property may not have heard about a property opportunity, such as a new listing, until well after the opportunity becomes available. As a result, the person may not be to take advantage of the property opportunity. For example, another person could have purchased the property by the time the user receives the information.
These and other drawbacks exist with existing property-related information systems.
An object of the invention is to overcome these and other drawbacks in existing systems and methods.
Another object of the invention is to provide real-time, dynamic, interactive voice services relating to property opportunities. Property includes all types of rights and interests in land and chattel. Based upon the occurrence of a predetermined event, such as passage of a predetermined amount of time or receipt of new property information, a telecast may be executed. During the telecast, a user may be given the opportunity to provide input, and receive additional information based upon the input. The input may also provide the user with the opportunity to reserve or purchase a property opportunity. A property opportunity may include at least one property for rent, sale, or trade.
Another object of the invention is to enable real-time, dynamic, interactive voice services relating to property based upon a personal profile and a user history. A user creates a personal profile. A data warehouse stores purchase data and creates a user history. A user history may include information on previous service offerings and previous user input, such as user purchases, personal profile modifications, or other information. The personal profile and the user history may determine the information from the voice services that is delivered to a particular user.
Another object of the invention is to provide real-time, dynamic, interactive voice services relating to changes in property opportunities of interest. Special filters may be applied to the updated information to limit the amount of repeated information concerning various property opportunities.
Another object of the present invention is to automatically register a user for at least one additional voice service based upon input received during the execution of a property service. For instance, when a user makes an appointment to conduct a walk-through of a newly listed house, the user may be asked whether a subscription to a mortgage voice service should be created. Additionally, the automatic registration may be determined by user settings or any other criteria established by the property service provider.
Another embodiment of the invention relates to a system and method for creation and automatic deployment of personalized, dynamic and interactive voice services, including information derived from on-line analytical processing (OLAP) systems and other data repositories. The system and method enables the ability to capture user selections to facilitate closed-loop transaction processing and processing of other requests. One aspect of the invention relates to an interactive voice broadcasting system and method that enables analytical reporting and advanced transactional services via the telephone or other voice-enabled terminal device. One advantage of the invention is that a voice service may leverage the power of OLAP or other data repository systems and provide critical information to the user, in a timely fashion, by phone. Another advantage of this method and system is that it provides a user with the opportunity to immediately act upon information received during a interactive voice broadcast.
A voice service is created and can have many users subscribed to the voice service. Each user can specify personal preferences for the content and presentation of the contents for a voice service. The specification of the elements of a voice service may be done using a set of interfaces (such as GUIs) that take the form of a voice service wizard.
A voice service includes one or more Dialog elements. Dialog elements may include one or more of Speech elements, Input elements and Error elements. An Input element may include a Prompt element and/or an Option element. An Input element enables the system to request input from the user, capture the input and direct the call flow based on the user""s input. An Option element associates a key (e.g., on a telephone touch pad dial) with a destination Dialog that is executed when that number is pressed by a user during an interactive voice broadcast. A Prompt requests a user to enter numeric or other information. An Input element may enable a user to request, during an interactive voice broadcast, a transaction, a service or other requests. The term transactions, services and requests are to be interpreted broadly.
According to one embodiment, the user""s responses to Input elements are stored during an interactive voice broadcast and, during or after the voice broadcast, the stored information is processed by the system or is passed to another system or application for processing. The transaction (or other request) processing can be accomplished either in real-time, during the voice broadcast, or after the interactive voice broadcast is completed. The results or confirmation of a transaction or other request can be provided to the user during the call or subsequently.
Once a voice service is created, the system monitors predetermined conditions to determine when the voice service should be executed. Each voice service is executed when one or more predetermined conditions are met as specified during creation of the voice service. For example, a voice service may be executed according to a predetermined schedule (time-based) or based on a triggering event (e.g. one or more conditions are met based on the output of an OLAP or other report).
When the predetermined condition is satisfied, the voice service is executed. Executing a voice service, includes the steps of generating the content specified by the voice service and the user preferences. Some users may have identical personalization options and, thus, a single call structure may be generated for a group of users with identical personalization options. The content of the voice service includes the information that is to delivered to users of that voice service, and the Input to be requested from the user, among other things. The content may include, for example, static text messages, dynamic content (e.g. text based on information output from an OLAP report, other database or other sources) or blended text (e.g. static text combined with dynamic content).
This and other content are formatted in an Active Voice Page (AVP). An AVP contains the call structure and data. The AVP contains data at various hierarchical levels that are defined by the Dialog elements defined for each voice service. The active voice pages are used to help govern the interaction between the call server and the user during an IVB. According to one embodiment, the content is formatted, into an AVP e.g., using XSL stylesheets so the AVP is in an XML-based language. According to one embodiment, the XML-based language used is a novel language referred to as TML (discussed below). The AVP is sent to a call server along with style properties for each user. The style properties of a user help determine the behavior of the call server during an interactive voice broadcast. A unique AVP is generated for each user scheduled to receive a voice service.
When a user is called by the call server, information is passed through a T-T-S engine and delivered to the user through a voice-enabled terminal device. Preferably, the structure of each call is dynamic, driven by current data values and is personalized based on a user profile established during subscription to a voice service. During a typical interactive voice broadcast, a synthesized, natural sounding voice greets the recipient by name, identifies itself, provides information relevant to the user and enables a user to provide input back to the system.
An IVB is a voice-enabled interaction with a user having a dynamic structure controlled by the AVP for the particular user. The IVB may be delivered using real-time, on-the-fly speech generation. During an IVB, information is exchanged between the call server and a user according to the AVP. The system executes dialogs by reading messages to the user and, eliciting input from the user. For example, the user may press buttons on a telephone touch pad dial to select an option or to provide numeric or alphanumeric input. Each response provided by a user may transfer control of the IVB to a different part of the AVP.
During or after the IVB, the user""s responses may be processed by the system or other applications. The AVP may contain pointers to other applications and embedded statements such that when a user exercises an option, the system performs a requested operation and returns the results to the user during the IVB. For example, by exercising an option, a user may request that a real-time database query be performed. When the user selects such an option, control is shifted to a portion of the AVP that contains an embedded SQL statement that is made against a database.
When a user has worked through selected dialogs of the AVP, the IVB is terminated. That is, a user likely will not work through all of the available dialogs during an IVB. Rather, the user""s inputs and option selections determine which the available dialogs are encountered during any given IVB.
These and other objects of the invention are accomplished according to various embodiments of the invention. According to one embodiment of the invention, a user may be provided with property opportunities information via property services. Property services are real-time, interactive, dynamic voice services generated upon the occurrence of a predetermined condition. A user subscribes to one or more property services.
The property services are dynamic in that the information provided to each user depends at least partially upon the property service and partially upon information associated with the user, such as a personal profile and user history. For example, a service delivered to a both Peter and Susan would address each of them by their respective names.
The property services are interactive in that the information provided to the user depends at least partially upon the input received by the user. For example, if a user has subscribed to a daily property service, the user may be presented with options relating to a number of different daily property categories, such as opportunities relating to high-rise apartments, town homes, and single-family dwellings. After the user selects input relating to high-rise apartments, the telecast then provides more detailed information relating specifically to the high-rise apartment opportunities.
According to another embodiment, the information actually received by a user subscribed to a particular property service may be further limited. For example, a personal profile and a user history may determine whether information within the property service is delivered to a particular user.
A personal profile may establish filters that prevent types of information from being delivered. Furthermore, a personal profile may ensure that information within a subscribed service is delivered. Additionally, parameters may be weighted so that a user may or may not receive information regarding a particular property opportunity. For example, a user subscribed to an apartment service may elect to receive all information about apartments in Adams Morgan, no information about Apartments over $2,000, and information about apartments outside Adams Morgan only if there are no apartments available within Adams Morgan.
A user history may establish filters that prevent types of information from being delivered. Furthermore, a user history may ensure that information within a subscribed service is delivered. Additionally, the user history may be a factor in determining whether a user receives information relating to a particular property opportunity. For instance, a user subscribed to a rental service may not be informed of rental property listing if the user has rejected a predetermined number of similar rental property listings. The user history may also be used to determine whether the system should recommend a modification to the personal profile to the user.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, a user may be informed of changes in property opportunities. A user subscribed to a service may not receive subsequent notifications of the same property opportunities. However, if the property opportunity changes, a user may be notified. For example, when a user has previously received information about a particular house for sale that meets the user""s criteria but does not request additional information, the system may prevent such information from being provided to the user unless explicitly requested. However, if the cost of the home meeting the user""s criteria drops by five percent, then the user may be notified of the change.
Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art upon reviewing the detailed description of the invention.